Lindland wins bronze at GR Olympic Qualifier in Uzbekistan Feb 19 20

Matt Lindland (Lincoln, Neb./Sunkist Kids) won a bronze medal at 167.5 pounds, the top U.S. performance at the Greco-Roman Olympic Qualifying Tournament held in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, Feb. 19-20

This event was the third of five Greco-Roman Olympic qualifying events held across the world from January-March 2000.

Lindland had a 3-1 record during the tournament, including a 4-3 decision over Artur Mishalkevich of Poland in the bronze-medal match. He won his first two matches, pinning Wang Sileng of China in 3:00 and stopping Azamat Almabekov of Kyrgyzstan, 3-0. In the semifinals, Lindland was pinned by Evgeni Erofaylov of Uzbekistan.

For his efforts, Lindland scored 16 points toward Olympic qualification at this weight class for the United States.

Nations are only able to enter athletes in weight classes which they did not qualify for during the 1999 Greco-Roman World Championships last fall. The athletes do not qualify themselves for the Olympic Games; rather, they are qualifying their nation to participate in that weight class.

After all five of the Olympic Greco-Roman Qualifing events are held, the points for each nation at each weight class are added up. The top three scores for each nation at each weight class are counted toward the final total. The top seven nations at each weight class from the qualifying events will qualify for the Olympic Games.